Roger Federer, an ardent Basel supporter, was up in the stands, in the posh seats to be precise, but even he could surely ignore his allegiances and appreciate the grace with which Youri Tielemans clinched victory for Aston Villa.
Unai Emery turned to Tielemans at half-time and the midfielder delivered within eight minutes, his classy first-time finish regaining the lead, after Evann Guessand’s early strike was cancelled out. This represented a 14th victory in their past 16 matches and it felt a significant one, too, given the pileup at the top of the table amid the scrap to advance automatically to the last 16 in March.
Written by Ben Fisher at St Jakob-Park
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/dec/11/basel-aston-villa-europa-league-match-report under the title “Classy Tielemans seals win in Basel to keep Aston Villa on march in Europe”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
